LOCAL Council member couldn't have it both ways...

March 17, 2006

LOCALCouncil member couldn't have it both ways In 2000, when Niles residents were first made aware that a power plant might be coming their way, Scott Clark was in his third year on the Niles City Council. He backed the plant even though it cost him business. This past Monday, Clark resigned from the council when faced with another difficult choice -- whether to continue a private contract to repair city police cars. B1Marcellus finds first village manager A former Mesa, Ariz.,, city official who moved to Mattawan last year may become Marcellus' first village manager. A committee organized to hire a village manager recently selected Laurie Sarkipato Goggin from three finalists. "She is our first choice," said Martha Westfall, acting village clerk and treasurer. On Monday Goggin is expected to meet with the village's attorney to negotiate a compensation contract. The salary range is expected to be about $43,000 to $47,000 a year. B1Mistrial declared in Dunnuck murder trial If Michael Dunnuck is ultimately convicted of killing William Whittaker in March 1990, it will be at the hands of a different jury. The 12 Cass County residents charged with deciding Dunnuck's fate couldn't do any better than 9-3 in favor of finding him guilty. So, after several tries, Judge Michael Dodge officially declared the trial a mistrial shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday. Dunnuck was remanded to the county jail as he awaits a retrial. B1BUSINESSLower energy prices bring down inflation Inflation, after posting a big spike at the start of the year, slowed sharply in February, reflecting large declines in gasoline and other fuel prices and in the cost of clothing. That's good news for those who are hoping the Federal Reserve stops hiking interest rates. C8NATION/WORLD'Mad' cow exhumed; age placed at 10 years The government has exhumed the Alabama cow with mad cow disease and concluded she was at least 10 years old, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. The age is still an estimate, an official said. But it suggests the cow may have been infected before the United States took steps to safeguard cattle feed from mad cow disease. Nine years ago, the government banned ground-up cattle remains from use in cattle feed. Meat and bone meal from cattle was a common ingredient until it was implicated in a massive outbreak in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The disease was blamed for the deaths of 180,000 cattle and more than 150 people. Experts checked the cow's teeth and determined she was 10 or older, the department said Thursday evening. That was the estimate of a local veterinarian. A7